Qatar Airways has added Philippine Airlines (PAL) as its latest ‘earn and burn’ Avios partner, opening up new redemption options on the carrier’s network, though it’s not the sweet spot some other Avios partners have proven to be.
The reciprocal partnership between Qatar Privilege Club (QRPC) and Philippine Airlines’ Mabuhay Miles programme went live earlier this week on 18th May 2026, allowing both sets of members to earn and redeem on the other carrier’s flights, with online bookings on PAL already available directly through the Qatar Airways site.
This is the latest in a steady run of non-Oneworld tie-ups Qatar has signed over the last couple of years, alongside the likes of Garuda Indonesia and Virgin Australia.
For our Singapore-based readers, the standout remains the Bangkok Airways partnership, which now allows fully online bookings with no fuel surcharges on the perennially expensive Singapore – Koh Samui route, at just 6,000 Avios one-way in Economy or 12,500 Avios in Business Class.
If you haven’t already taken advantage of that one, it’s well worth a read first.
Philippine Airlines, sadly, isn’t quite in the same league, but there are still one or two scenarios where it could come in useful.
Online booking is available
Searching and booking Philippine Airlines award flights using Qatar Privilege Club Avios is fully online via qatarairways.com, provided you’re logged into your account and remember to tick the ‘Book with Avios’ option before searching.
There’s no offline ticketing request hassle, which is always a plus.
Qatar Avios award rates on Philippine Airlines
As with the Garuda Indonesia partnership last year, Qatar isn’t strictly following its standard partner award chart for Philippine Airlines redemptions, with most rates priced above what the published distance-based table would suggest.
Here’s how the pricing looks across a selection of routes. Note that Premium Economy isn’t separately bookable with Avios, with redemptions limited to Economy or Business Class only.
| Qatar Avios award rates on Philippine Airlines (one-way) |
||
| Example Route | Economy | Business |
| Manila Taipei |
12,000 | 24,000 |
| Manila Singapore |
17,000 | 34,000 |
| Manila Seoul / Osaka / Tokyo |
18,000 | 36,000 |
| Manila Honolulu |
50,000 | 100,000 |
| Manila Los Angeles / San Francisco / Seattle / Vancouver |
55,000 | 110,000 |
| Manila Toronto / New York |
77,250 | 154,500 |
| Singapore Manila Los Angeles / San Francisco |
17,000 + 55,000 72,000 |
34,000 + 110,000 144,000 |
It’s the usual Avios story, where the short sectors look reasonable enough, but the longer flights creep up quickly, and pricing on transpacific routes is towards the upper end of what you might expect for a partner redemption.
Qatar is also passing on a chunk of Philippine Airlines’ carrier-imposed surcharges, which we’ll come to shortly.
Singapore – Manila: KrisFlyer still wins
The most obvious application of this new partnership for our readers would be the Singapore – Manila route, but this is where it falls flat on arrival.
| Singapore – Manila Awards (one-way) |
||
| Programme | Economy | Business |
| KrisFlyer (on SIA, SIN-MNL) |
13,000 + S$65 |
25,000 + S$65 |
| KrisFlyer (on SIA, MNL-SIN) |
13,000 + S$20 |
25,000 + S$20 |
| QRPC Avios (on PAL, SIN-MNL) |
17,000 + S$110 |
34,000 + S$155 |
| QRPC Avios (on PAL, MNL-SIN) |
17,000 + S$98 |
34,000 + S$143 |
KrisFlyer saver awards on Singapore Airlines between Singapore and Manila are regularly available at 13,000 miles in Economy and 25,000 miles in Business Class, both cheaper than the Avios alternative and with far lower surcharges to boot.
It’s also worth noting that Philippine Airlines operates predominantly Airbus A321 narrow-body aircraft on the Singapore – Manila route, with a 2-2 recliner Business Class, no Wi-Fi and no in-flight entertainment.
(Photo: TravelingFoody)
Singapore Airlines, by contrast, flies the route exclusively with wide-bodies, and recently started to deploy A350 Long Haul aircraft on selected Manila services, giving passengers a chance to enjoy the carrier’s 2013 long-haul Business Class product on the 3.5-hour hop.
(Photo: MainlyMiles)
Even setting aside the miles and taxes, PAL’s product is a significant downgrade for anyone redeeming Avios on this route.
Where it could come in handy: USA awards
Where this partnership might just have a use case is as a backup option for transpacific redemptions, tapping Philippine Airlines’ fairly extensive North American network.
PAL operates up to three daily flights from Manila to Los Angeles, plus regular services to San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver, Toronto, New York and Honolulu, with flights predominantly using Airbus A350-900s with 1-2-1 Business Class seats, and increasingly the newer A350-1000.
(Photo: One Mile at a Time)
Award space, particularly in Business Class to Los Angeles, looks impressively healthy even on relatively close-in travel dates.
In one search for travel in August 2026, all three daily LAX departures had five or more Business Class award seats available, the kind of availability that’s essentially non-existent on KrisFlyer at that booking horizon, where Business Class space on many dates is already at Access pricing for most members.
That makes Avios a potentially useful option for those needing transpacific Business Class space when KrisFlyer is dry, and when Qatar’s own one-stop service via Doha isn’t available either.
Avios pricing is additive
There’s an important caveat to flag, however, which is that Avios pricing on partner airlines is additive on through journeys, so there isn’t a chart-based fixed-price redemption like KrisFlyer awards, instead each leg is priced separately.
A Singapore – Manila – Los Angeles itinerary in Business Class, for example, prices as follows:
- Singapore – Manila: 34,000 Avios + S$155
- Manila – Los Angeles: 110,000 Avios + S$333
- Total: 144,000 Avios + S$454
That’s significantly more than a non-stop KrisFlyer saver award on Singapore Airlines between Singapore and Los Angeles, which prices at 112,500 miles in Business Class with far lower taxes – assuming, of course, you can find the space!
You’d really have to have run out of alternative redemption options for this to make sense, even a KrisFlyer Business Advantage award to Los Angeles at 154,000 miles is a lot less hassle and a lot less taxes than this one.
Booking quirk: use multi-city
To put a connecting itinerary like Singapore – Manila – Los Angeles on a single PNR, with bags through-checked and a protected connection in Manila, you’ll need to use the multi-city search option on the Qatar Airways website rather than a standard one-way or return search.
Enter each segment separately (e.g. SIN-MNL on 11 Aug, MNL-LAX on 11 Aug), then select the flights one by one. The system will then price the journey on a single ticket with a protected connection in Manila. It’s not the slickest user experience, but it does the job.
This also works for BA (and other) Avios
If you’re holding a balance in British Airways Avios but not in Qatar Privilege Club, that’s no big problem.
While Philippine Airlines redemptions aren’t bookable via ba.com, BA Avios and QR Avios are fully interchangeable, with instant, fee-free and fully reversible online transfers between the two programmes, in any amount, as often as you wish.
Avios held with Iberia Plus, AerClub, Finnair Plus and Loganair can also be moved into Qatar Privilege Club, by routing via British Airways Club first.
Note that the British Airways Club now requires your account to be 30 days old before you can link to a Qatar Airways Privilege Club account, and the Qatar Privilege Club will adopt the same rule in reverse from June 2026.
Earning Avios in Singapore
You can transfer credit card points into two Avios frequent flyer programmes from the following banks in Singapore.
Singapore Bank to Avios transfer partners
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= Good transfer ratio
= Lousy transfer ratio
Do note that HSBC transfers to Qatar Privilege Club at a poorer rate than it does to other programmes, while the same issue affects OCBC transfers to British Airways Executive Club Avios. Avoid these options, and remember BA to QR Avios transfers are free and instant (HSBC take note!).
It’s also possible to buy Avios points relatively cheaply throughout the year, from as little as 1.5 Singapore cents each, with recent deals from Finnair Plus and Qatar Airways Privilege Club.
Earning Avios on Philippine Airlines flights
The new partnership also allows Qatar Privilege Club members to earn Avios on cash tickets with Philippine Airlines, with accrual percentages varying by booking class and cabin in the usual Avios fashion.
Here’s how that looks.
| Avios Points Accrual on Philippine Airlines |
||
| Cabin | Booking Class |
Accrual Percentage (miles x) |
| Business Class | C, D, J | 150% |
| I, Z | 125% | |
| Premium Economy | W, N | 115% |
| Economy Class | Y, S, L, M, H | 100% |
| Q, V, B, X | 75% | |
| T, E, K | 50% | |
| U, O | 10% | |
For most of our readers, crediting paid PAL travel to Avios will be more useful than crediting to Mabuhay Miles, which has more limited reach outside the Philippines and is less straightforward to use for premium-cabin redemptions on partner airlines.
(Photo: Alan Wilson)
Make sure to add your QRPC membership number at booking, or via Manage Booking later, to ensure your Avios credit.
Summary
Philippine Airlines has joined the Avios ecosystem as a Qatar Privilege Club ‘earn and burn’ partner, allowing reciprocal earning and redemption on both carriers’ flights.
For Singapore – Manila travel, the rates aren’t competitive with KrisFlyer on Singapore Airlines, being higher in both miles and taxes, and the aircraft you’ll fly on is likely a narrow-body Airbus A321, rather than SIA’s wide-bodies (which now include the A350 Long Haul on selected services).
Where it could earn its place is as a backup option for award seats to North America when KrisFlyer space is unavailable and Qatar’s own flights via Doha won’t work either. Healthy Business Class award availability on Philippine Airlines’ three daily Los Angeles flights, in particular, looks promising even on close-in travel dates.
A useful option to have, but not one you should be checking out first!
(Cover Photo: Markus Mainka / Shutterstock)